- Take a drive up  Holman Road
Holman Road Communications Manager, Maribel Cruz at Maribel.cruz@seattle.gov or 206-684-7963 for more project information.
Holman Road construction
Category Archives: Walkability
Come out for our ‘Hood Hunt
NOTE: this is now over, please visit the Wrap Up article for the event.
The Crown Hill ‘Hood Hunt is a map-based scavenger hunt with checkpoints that you must find using a map that has no street names. Use your map reading skills to keep track of where you are.
Here’s how it works: Come to the Crown Hill Center at 10 a.m., get a map and question sheet. The map covers about a square mile and contains twenty-five checkpoints from 85th Street to 100th Street. Find as many checkpoints as you can on foot in 75 minutes, and return to the finish. There are no items to “scavengeâ€, only a question to answer about something you will see at each checkpoint. Afterward, participants will gather for refreshments and share routes, stories, and answers.
You can go solo, or with a team of friends and family. It’s a great event for people who like to walk or jog and it’s a way to get to know your neighborhood and neighbors.
Prizes donated by Swanson’s Nursery and Holy Grounds Coffee Shop will be awarded to the top scoring finishers.
Start and Finish at the Crown Hill Center, 9250 14th Ave NW
$5 donation per team requested, but not required
Rapid Ride Line D is coming
King County Metro will be replacing the current 15 and 15 Express buses which serve Crown Hill with Rapid Ride D Line by the end of 2012. As shown on KC Metro’s graphic (at the end of this article), both the Northern and Southern end of the line details have yet to be firmed up (see below for proposed route). Rapid Ride Line D will serve the route between Crown Hill and Downtown Seattle via Queen Anne.
General information on Rapid Ride is available from Metro’s Rapid Ride web page. Rapid Ride offers many improvements over the current bus service. Some of the improvements include:
- Faster boarding via three doors rather than the current single point of entry
- You won’t need a timetable. Service as frequent as every 10 minutes during the commute periods and into a larger portion of the non-commute day. 15 minute interval at other times during the day, and the same interval as the 15 for the wee morning and late evening hours
- Pre-paid boarding. Pay at the kiosk, and walk on.
- Fewer stops speed transit up with the tradeoff of having to walk a little more
- Improved amenities at stops, including improved lighting, and stop request signals to notify bus drivers of waiting riders
Of interest to many in Crown Hill, Blueridge and Olympic Manor will be how the bus is routed on the northern terminus. The current routing of the 15 turns around using a loop comprised of the residential streets 14th Ave NW, NW 105th St, 13th Ave NW, NW 103rd St, and 14th Ave NW. According to Paul Roybal of Metro, Line D is proposed to use a loop comprised of Holman Rd, 7th Ave NW, NW 100th, 100th Place, 3rd Ave NW, and Holman Road. Stops have not been determined, as yet. This will be music to the ears of many living on the current terminal loop, as articulated buses will no longer be driving on the residential streets adjacent to their homes at all hours. However that also means a longer walk to reach the new bus from many areas in Crown Hill, Blueridge and parts of Olympic Manor. Additionally, this will force a pedestrian crossing of Holman Road for those riders residing North and South of Holman to either board or alight from the bus. The changes will mean easier connections to the 75, 28 and 5 routes running respectively along Holman, 3rd and 8th Aves, and Greenwood Avenue.
View 15/Line D changes in Crown Hill in a larger map
Below is the full route map published by Metro. This is available as a PDF from the Line D information page at Metro.
Tree Walk enjoyed by many
On September 11, 2010 over 50 people participated in a 90 minute walking tour of some of Crown Hill’s landmark trees. Attendees were primarily from the Crown Hill neighborhood, but also included residents from nearby neighborhoods and some from Maple Valley and Bellevue. The tour featured remnants of an old orchard sprawled across what are now multiple single family lots, trees that rank among Seattle’s largest for their species, including a few recorded no where else in the City, and many other significant neighborhood trees. The tour was led by Arthur Lee Jacobson, a wry wit and a renowned local horticulturalist who is the author of Trees of Seattle and Wild Plants of Greater Seattle.
You can take the walking tour yourself with this Tree walk map, albeit without the expert and humorous commentary of Mr. Jacobson. Some corrections need to be made to a couple of tree designations and an updated version will be posted as it becomes available.
Over the next few months, the Neighborhood Association will post other self-guided walking tours of trees in other sections of Crown Hill.
Crown Hill Tree Walk, Sept 11, 2010
Ever wonder about some of those trees that are neighborhood landmarks, or have unusual foliage, beautiful flowers? Come join your neighbors for a walking tour of some of the special trees that grace Crown Hill’s private yards and public spaces. You’ll see remnants of an old orchard sprawled across what are now multiple single family lots, trees that rank among Seattle’s largest for their species, including a few recorded nowhere else in the City, and many other significant neighborhood trees. Arthur Lee Jacobson, author of Trees of Seattle and Wild Plants of Greater Seattle, and a renowned local expert will lead our walking tour of some of the interesting trees in Crown Hill.
The walk begins at 9 AM, on Saturday, September 11th, 2010. We’ll gather at the large oak tree at the corner of 13th Ave NW and NW 95th street by the Crown Hill Center (formerly Crown Hill Elementary School). The walk will be about 90 minutes long, and will be conducted at a leisurely, family-friendly pace to allow all to participate. Please wear comfortable walking shoes.